Yankees Editorial: Chase Headley Needs to Step up Defensively

In the bottom of the seventh inning of Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Washington Nationals, Adam Warren was in the midst of another solid performance until Chase Headley committed his ninth error of the season, fumbling a roller in between third and short that allowed Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos to reach first base and eventually score what turned out to be the game winning run later on in the inning. Not only did the error result in the difference in the game, but it resulted in the Yankees third consecutive and third series loss.

“It’s a play that you get at third and you do your best with the in-between hop,” Headley told Ryan Hatch of NJ.com. “And I tried to smother it.”

When reporters asked Headley about the reasoning behind his defensive struggles, the third baseman replied;

"“You know, there’s a multitude of things, there’s some things I’ll correct…been a strange start for me defensively.”"

Unfortunately for Mr. Headley, the telltale is getting old. It was just a few short days ago that he said the same thing to reporters when he committed another error over in Kansas City when the Yankees dropped two out of three to the Royals.

Headley was re-signed to a four-year/$52 million contract in the off-season to take over as the every day third basemen for the New York Yankees. Yes, his bat is starting to come together, but up until the early parts of 2015, Chase Headley is usually considered a gold glove caliber defender over at the hot corner. Nine errors later, and the lucrative third basemen is now rated the 23rd best, or should I say worst, major league third basemen, according to Hatch.

Hopefully things will start to turn around for Headley’s glove and the New York Yankees, as they’re set to begin a five game road stand that starts against the Texas Rangers at 7:05 pm Friday night.

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